Columnist Ron Kantowski: High definition television taking sports fans into the game

Monday, March 31, 2003 | 9:50 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron @ lasvegassun.com or(702) 259-4088.

Another Major League Baseball season is under way, but this one won't be like any other, at least for the couch potato.

Sunday night's season opener featuring the Rangers and world champion Angels also marked the debut of ESPN HD, the all sports network's high definition channel available on Cox 705 for those with the right equipment, i.e., an HD TV and receiver.

Watching grown men spit tobacco juice and scratch themselves never looked so enthralling. And who knew that Peter Gammons had that many lines on his face?

HDTV provides a picture that is six times sharper, with twice the color resolution, of traditional analog TV.

I have a friend who refers to my TV as "The Window," because he says it's like looking out one (minus the layers of wind-blown dirt and hard water sprinkler deposits).

If you are among those who has taken the HD plunge -- with some high definition sets now available for under $700, the waters are getting more shallow all the time -- or cruised through the electronics department at the local Best Buy, you've already seen the technology for yourself.

If not, the best comparison I can draw is that it's like watching those View Master picture discs some of us old-timers had as kids come to life.

Until recently, local HD subscribers had to settle for HBO and Showtime movies, the Discovery Channel Theatre and local news for an HD fix, as those are among the few offerings currently available in the medium.

Nothing against the sprawling Irish countryside, but to the sports fan, it can't compare to the Fighting Irish football team, which also should be available in HD before too long.

CBS already has presented NFL playoff games and the Super Bowl in HD. This week's Final Four will air in HD on CBS, as will The Masters in a couple of weeks. NBA TV, the league's 24-hour network, will carry up to seven playoff games in HDTV. Every Monday Night Football game will air in HD.

But ESPN's HD channel may make an HD set the biggest must-have for the sports fan since a six-pack, a bag of pretzels and a remote control. ESPN HD will carry more than 100 live events a year, with Tuesday's UConn-Purdue NCAA women's basketball regional final next up.

"We are going to change the way sports television is viewed; that's not an understatement," Jed Drake, ESPN's senior vice president and executive producer of ESPN HD, told the Los Angeles Daily News. "It will be the most important thing we do."

And that includes Dan Patrick scarfing down a rack of ribs at TGI Fridays and any silly catch phrase that Stuart Scott can concoct.

If ESPN is destined to become the pioneer in HD sports, then Cox Cable of Las Vegas should at least get a coonskin cap. It provided 12 March Madness games to its HD subscribers at no cost and also is providing a free one-week sneak preview of ESPN HD. After that, Cox customers can add ESPN HD for a modest $5 per month -- or just $1.99 for subscribers who already receive Discovery HD Theatre.

On Sunday, I thought I died and went to HD heaven. In addition to the baseball game, Cox also aired the Texas-Michigan State South Region final in HD. The pictures were so sharp that you could tell Tom Izzo nicked himself shaving and that Chris Berman must have dropped his napkin during the media meal.

They say watching a game in HD is just like being there, but that's an exaggeration.

Unless you've got an obnoxious neighbor you can invite over to spill beer on your coffee table and swear in front of your wife and kids, it's nothing like watching a game in person.